Global trends in the dental industry

Why do implants cost so much? Prosthodontics Intermedia tries to explain, but it didn’t quite work for us. Maybe they can convince you… We would have liked to see a breakdown into costs for materials and hourly rates for people involved in the procedures. Maybe that’s too much to ask for. Since the same branded implant systems are used in Thailand as in the US and the price of implants is only around a third or a quarter in Thailand we have to assume that the material costs are only a tiny fraction of the total. At least of the total charged in Europe or the US.

http://www.dentalimplants-usa.com/Treatment/Implants/cost.html

Statistics show that nearly 800,000 dental implants were done in the US in 2004, and since growth rates for implants are quite impressive we estimate that in the US alone there are now more than one million implants made per year.

In a recent report by the millennium research group they estimated the 2005 US dental implant market to be worth US$ 550 million. At an estimated one million implants that would make about US$ 550 per implant... Sounds like a lot for a little titanium cylinder, however high-tech. Anybody got more reliable numbers?

Kevin Mosher, vice president and general manager of Switzerland-based Nobel Biocare, a leader in dental implants, said the industry is growing by 20 percent a year. This is the highest growth rate in all of dentistry, followed by cosmetic dentistry on second place.

Dental implants are a Euro 1.5 billion-a-year industry, and with the increase in popularity of immediate loading type implants growth is going to continue. 1.5 billion is from the perspective of the implant manufacturers, not from the perspective of the dentists. For them it’s many times bigger, since material costs are only a small fraction of what they charge to their patients. It is interesting to know that the market penetration of dental implants is bigger in Europe than in the US. Maybe because of that the growth rates are currently higher in the US.

The biggest five companies make up about 85% of the total implant market. The industry leaders, both of them Swiss, are Nobel Biocare and Straumann. Together they have more than 50% market share.

If you want to get some more numbers from the biggest player in the dental implant industry check out Nobel Biocare's implant market information:

http://investor.nobelbiocare.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=139018&p=irol-dental